Double-door-closing device.



No. 778,959. PATENTED JAN. 3, 1905.

F. M. EDMONDS.

DOUBLE DOOR CLOSING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 27, 1903.

SHEETS-SHEET l.

PATENTBD JAN. 3, 1905.

F. M. BDMONDS.

DOUBLE DOOR CLOSING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 2'7, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

IINTTED STATES Patented January 3, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK M. EDMONDS, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO COBURN TROLLEY TRACK MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF WIL- LIMANSETT, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION.

DOUBLE-DOOR-CLOSING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 778,959, dated January 3, 1905.

Application filed March 27, 1903. Serial No. 149,914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK M. EDMoNDs, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Holyoke, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Double-Door- Closing Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to automatic doorclosing devices, and has special reference to a device of this character adapted to operate double doors, one of which must be closed before the other. This type of door-closing devices is usually associated with some means whereby the devices are held in restraint normally and which means may be automatically operated to effect the release of the door-closing devices. Usually there has been associated with the restraining means a strip of easilythe construction of the door-closing devices whereby the closing of the doors in succession instead of simultaneously is assured; and to that end the invention consists in the devices described in the following specification, and pointed out in the claims.

In this application releasing means, both thermally and electrically operated, are shown in association with the door-closing devices; but the invention runs particularly to the construction of the door-closing devices, and the Fig. 2 is a top plan view, considerably enlarged, of the weight-restraining devices and their supports. Fig. 3 isa front elevation of the same. Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 44 of Fig. 3 looking to the left. Fig. 5 is a similar view on line 5 5 looking to the right, same figure. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a spiral-faced boss to be attached to one of the doors. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one end of asliding bolt, havinga spirally-formed end similar to that on the boss shown in Fig. 6.

Referring now to the drawings, a and b indicate, respectively, two doors, a being the door which is to be closed first, the doors being hung in any suitable manner to swing toward and from each other. In the door-opening, preferably on one side thereof near the top, the door-closing devices are. located and suitable chains or other flexible connections, as c and d, are attached near the upper corners of each door by one end, their opposite ends'leading through or over suitable pulleys to the door-closing device in the doorway, in which device two pulleys eandf are located, over which the chains run, the pulley 6 being for the chain 0 and the pulley f for the chain (Z. These pulleys are so located that the chains may lead downwardly through a passage in two relatively heavy weights g and it, and on the lower ends of these chains there are secured two smaller weights z' and j, which are merely counterbalancing weights for the door, having the further function of serving as stops for the weights 9 and it when the lattelr are released to close the doors automatica y.

The pulleys e and f are supported in suitable metal brackets lc, so formed and secured together as to not only support the pulleys a and f, but also to constitute a suitable support for a bolt m, which is capable of endwise and rotative movements in its bearings, the said brackets also providing suitable supports for an L-shaped arm n, also capable of endwise movement. On the bolt m is a pair of crank-arms, one arm 0 of which has connected thereto a wire p, running to some fixed point of support, and in this wire there is connected a strip of easily-fusible metal 9. This arm 0 is located in a substantially vertical position. The other arm 7' of the pair extends horizontally from the bolt, or substantially so, and by means of a short link 8 sustains the weight 9. One end of the L-shaped arm n, whose position is clearly shownin Figs. 2 and 3, enters loosely the inner end of the bolt m, and passing through the brackets Zc runs back in a horizontal direction toward the wall on which the brackets are secured and then turns inwardly again through the wall of the bracket at the point t, Fig. 2, this end entering the eye of a short link u, to which the weight 71 is secured. The end of the bolt m which projects through the sideof its supportingbracket toward the door a is of spiral formation, as shown in Fig. 7, and on said door a there is secured the round boss 4;, whose end is also spirally formed, as shown in Figs. 6. This boss is so located relative to the end of the bolt m that when the door a is closed said boss will lie against the end of said bolt, the high point w of said boss lying against the lowest point 00 of the spiral on the bolt. The closing of the door, therefore,- when the weights 9 and 7a are in inoperative positionthat is to say, held up by the wire connection 10-will not impart any endwise movement to the bolt; but if the fusible strip (1 is ruptured then the weight 9 will fall, automatically closing the door a, and in its fall will cause the arm 1 on the bolt m to swing downward to release the weight, thus bringing the high point of the spiral on the end of said bolt opposite the high point w of the spiral on the boss '0. Thus as the door a swings shut it will toward the end of its movement come in contact with the bolt m and impart an endwise movement thereto, which in turn will be imparted to the arm n and disengage the latter from the link a, and thus release the weight 71 at or near the end of the closing movement of the door a, thereby always insuring the closing of the door 6 at a time following the closing of the door athat is, the release of the weight which closes the door I) can only be effected at or near the termination of the closing movement of the door a.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The combination with two doors movable toward each other, of two weights supported adjacent to the doors; and restraining devices to hold the weights normally inactive; a flexible connection extending from each door to and through its actuating-weight, and means on said flexible connections below the weights to support the latter when they are released, together with means to release the weights in succession, to effect the closing of one door after the other.

2. The combination with two doors movable toward each other, of two weights supported adjacent to the doors; and restraining devices to hold the weights normally inactive; aflexible connection extending from each doorto and through its actuating-weight, and means on said flexible connections below the weights to support the latter when they are released, to-

gether with means to release one of said weights whereby the closing of one door may be effected, and devices on said door cooperating with said weight-restraining devices, whereby the second weight may be released during the closing movement of the first-released door.

3. The combination with two doors movable one toward the other, of a door-closing weight for each door, supported adjacent thereto, andrestraining means associated with the weights to hold them normallyinactive; means independent of the doors to release one of said weights to effect the closing of one door, and a device actuated by the closing movement of said door to effect the release of the other weight, whereby the second door may be closed after the first.

FRANK M. EnMoNDs- Witnesses:

K. I. CLEMoNs, WM. H. CHAPIN. 

